[Brickfarm]

Hi all
Newbie to this need advise on which route to take with pigs. We've been living on a farm for 3 years now and won't be long until we've finished fixing the barns up, we have one barn which has a farrowing house and the other side consists of old milking bays approximately 150ftx150ft and an old cattle barn around 200ft x50ft. My partner has a real passion for pigs and wants to keep pigs but our funding is limited so wondering if anyone's out there who knows of a good firm who pays you to keep pigs as we'd like to do it on a large scale and what they pay etc. We've tried phoning round but can't seem to get anyone who does it except from Ian Mosley but never phoned us back or wondering if it would be better to start up ourselves it's just the price of feeds.
Has anyone ever mixed there own feeds? As my partner was thinking of buying everything in in bulk and mixing his own feeds and buying a Pelletier machine. Just confused on which path to take, and if anyone had gone down this route, or can give advise on which route to take. Obviously which ever route we take  we would like to turn over a small profit to make it worth our while.

[greenbeast]

might be worth joining 'the farming forum', there are b&b pig keepers there and you could probably find what you need.
it's a different proposition starting out in pigs on your own

[Pigsmightfry]

The big pork producers are sending 500+ pigs away every day for the big grocery chains, due to the numbers involved they can absorb lower prices per head and keep their overheads down. Some of these farms have upwards of 40k pigs at various stages of production. Some producers do farm out their finishers to other farms, they also provide all the feed, however, unless you live in the same area the transport costs would make it non-viable. You would also need to comply with their very specific housing, feeding and health requirements as its their reputation and business that is at stake. Without a degree of experience of pig keeping they may not look favourably on you as they are taking all the risk.

I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm, but if you were to try it yourself you would need guaranteed outlet contracts for the pigs and they will need to meet specific standards from the retailers or you may not get paid. It's also a numbers game as the larger producer is better positioned to absorb fluctuations in the market; say 50 pigs left unsold would soon literally 'eat' all of your savings very quickly.

You could always do what we do on here, keep a few pigs for meat or breeding and enjoy the experience from your own home produced quality product.

Good luck.

[harmony]

Pigs are the easiest animal to get into difficulty with on a large scale if you don't do enough homework. Most people start with a couple of pigs for the freezer not on the scale you are thinking of.  pigsmightfry is absolutely right when he talks about experience.


If you are passionate about pigs then learn all you can then make your plans.

[hughesy]

Not trying to put a downer on anyone but the commercial pig industry is in dire straits and only the very best businesses can survive and hopefully make a profit. My advice would be to have a few sows, rear a couple of litters  a year, treat it as a hobby until you think you know what you're doing and see where you go from there.
We are just getting rid of the last of our pigs after a number of years. Sold a lot of pork but all the potential profits went into the feed bin. I would suggest if you want to make a few quid out of pigs buy an abattoir or a feed supplier.

[Brickfarm]

Hi all thanks for your advise and input it looks like the way to go is to build up slowly. My partner has experience in pigs haveing been to collage and working on a commercial pig farm some years ago but never done it for himself except breeding on his own yard. He was thinking about building up to 100 within a few years. We thought that the Bnb idea would have worked best for us with the limited funding we have. It's just a shame we have the facilities but limited saveings to start. And the price of feed. Just wondering if anyone had milled there own feed to save cost of bagged as I'm sure abit of research you could blend a good pig feed and buy the addatives bagged to mix in. Thanks in advance ?

[greenbeast]

Hi all thanks for your advise and input it looks like the way to go is to build up slowly. My partner has experience in pigs haveing been to collage and working on a commercial pig farm some years ago but never done it for himself except breeding on his own yard. He was thinking about building up to 100 within a few years.

we bought our land in march 2015, as of now this farm has seen or has on site 172 pigs already. Admittedly we breed micro-pigs for pets on the side of our meat producing.
The business has, however, swallowed A LOT of money

[hughesy]

Never considered milling our own feed as it would have required investment and time which we never had enough of. We did feed a lot of waste fruit and veg from a wholesaler friend of ours but it's a drop in the ocean. We had a modest herd of seven sows and a boar plus their resultant offspring and to put it into perspective we've spent £50 000 on feed alone over the last six years. At times our feed was costing us £250 a week. You need to be shifting some pigs to cover that and at times you're feeding a lot but not selling much. This could force you into selling cheap just to get some turnover going. It's no get rich quick scheme.

[greenbeast]

Never considered milling our own feed as it would have required investment and time which we never had enough of. We did feed a lot of waste fruit and veg from a wholesaler friend of ours but it's a drop in the ocean. We had a modest herd of seven sows and a boar plus their resultant offspring and to put it into perspective we've spent £50 000 on feed alone over the last six years. At times our feed was costing us £250 a week. You need to be shifting some pigs to cover that and at times you're feeding a lot but not selling much. This could force you into selling cheap just to get some turnover going. It's no get rich quick scheme.

Indeed we're currently feeding £500/month to the pigs (with some birds and calves as well)

[farmers wife]

Go on the farmers forum there are some commercial pig producers on there who will give you good figures and down falls. 

[Brickfarm]

Thanks for the advise. Our goal would be to build it up slowly. I'm going to look further into the milling of our own feed to see if it would be worth wile but understand it has to be spot on for the quality of the pigs and meat so that that get everything that need. I'm thinking one problem is that with us just starting out is some of our pigs will be going to market for pork as we don't have any potential buyers lined up. I'm wondering if anyone does this. We're not looking to make ourselves rich it's more of a lifestyle choice. But if we could turn a profit it would be great.

[Gregoz]

Yes, I posed the question regarding blending your own feed and buying a pellet machine but given the lack of response, I do not think anyone here has looked into it.
Don't be disheartened though. I think there is money to be made in pigs but you must offer a point of difference. You must take out any Middle men between you and the end consumer and you must establish your market from the off set.
I'd be really keen to hear any info re mixing your own feed

[harmony]

I'm thinking one problem is that with us just starting out is some of our pigs will be going to market for pork as we don't have any potential buyers lined up. I'm wondering if anyone does this. We're not looking to make ourselves rich it's more of a lifestyle choice. But if we could turn a profit it would be great.

Finished pigs at market near us recently were around a £1 per kilo. Most butchers buy the cuts they can sell not whole pigs. Most customers don't want halves or whole pigs either. I know experienced people in the business of selling to the public though farmers markets, food halls at shows etc. things are pretty bad at present.


Lifestyle choice - well most people on here have made a choice and they produce for their table, support rare breeds and sell some surplus etc- that is a different thing from having a business because you like pigs and hope maybe to turn a profit. The risk is you lose the very lifestyle choice you made.


At the end of the day the choice is yours but really do your homework and be very careful not to grow too big too soon.

[Marches Farmer]

We started out with pigs years ago by joining the Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing scheme, which was set up to provide an outlet for rare native breed pigs, linking traditional butchers and the buying public.  We've since moved across into saving the most rare of the GOS female bloodlines so are concentrating on registering the very best stock and selling them on to experienced pig breeders to spread the bloodline around the UK for security when (note I didn't say "if") another case of F&M or similar occurs.  The surplus piglets generally end up in our freezer, are sold as weaners or are bartered for grazing.  If we were to grow the herd much more we would have to cut back on the rare breed sheep, turkeys and L/F poultry breeds we also breed.

[farmers wife]

Unless you have your own wheat etc I worked out it wasnt worth the hassle to get the right mix when looking at chicken meal.  Buying in then mixing is a big project and to make buying in direct you need to purchase a few tons of each. I assume you have silos?  Some farms have mixer wagons come to yard to mix it there from what they are harvested.  Messing about buying in tons of different grains then mixing is frankly far from 'low input' and making money in farming has to be low input these days.  Straw at £50 a bale.  I would question your logic in thinking there is money to be made if you are not experienced in large pig units.


The market is so fragile and risky I would seriously do some sums to work out returns and gross profit.  I can think of working part time in a shop would bring a better return to the home over a month.


Im in farming and no one is really making a good living apart from those on estates or people who are lucky that they have built a business of rearing and direct selling which includes a lot of labour. Labour in farming is the biggest overhead and you cant escape it in farming.